2008 Porsche 911 Turbo

Third Place: Vision Quest

Our high-speed run began in Los Angeles and snaked 450 miles north to Reno, Nevada, on two-lane roads. The Porsche quickly emerged as the sports car of the group. Although the 911 Turbo is 120 pounds heavier than the relatively lightweight M3, the 911 sports the lowest roofline and the shortest wheelbase and overall length. But the Porsche’s sports-car demeanor comes from more than its measurements. It’s a tactile delight, from the redolent and flawlessly leather-wrapped Carrera Red interior to the steering that delivers more information than your credit report. Everything in the 911 seems to have been thought out and designed to please the driver, so why is it bringing up the rear?

As noted, the Turbo model is not our favorite 911. Naturally aspirated 911s (even base Carrera models) offer the same tactile thrills as the Turbo for a lot less money. We’re not denying the appeal of this car when 17 pounds of turbo pressure slams into the flat-six engine. There is a whiff of turbo lag, but when the turbos kick in, the driver will be looking for the bus that slammed into the rear bumper. Even the digital speedometer can’t keep up and leaps forward in clumps of 5 to 7 mph. Acceleration times were the best in the test (0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds) and about on par with other 911 Turbos we’ve tested in the past.

From inside, the snarling boxer six and the whee of the turbos made us giggle. Outside the car, all one hears is air being made to do unholy things. If thunder is God bowling, a 911 Turbo under maximum acceleration sounds like God vacuuming His brownstone. This isn’t the quickest 911 Turbo we’ve ever tested, but it did manage to outaccelerate the Nissan wondercar.

At the track, the order changed as the GT-R left the 911 Turbo skidding in its wake. There’s plenty of grip from the Turbo’s wide Michelin Pilot Sport PS2s, as displayed by the best-in-test 0.97 g of skidpad grip, but the all-wheel-drive system doesn’t seem to be as track tuned as the GT-R’s. The Turbo’s AWD system doesn’t pull the car through the corners as tenaciously as the GT-R, nor does the AWD system stabilize the car as well as the GT-R’s. Under power, the Porsche tends to arc wide; a bit less throttle tucks the front end back in line, but the GT-R’s AWD doesn’t require finessing. It’s an automatic Nikon to Porsche’s Leica. With the GT-R, just point and shoot.

Playing around with the Porsche’s transient responses is a lot of fun, arguably more so than the oh-so-serious GT-R. The classic 911 ASS MASS and the 92.5-inch wheelbase make for a weight-sensitive and reactive (but never twitchy) chassis. Pitching the Turbo into corners and catching the slide had us grinning like schoolboys. While you’re messing around with the Porsche’s cornering attitude, the GT-R may flow by without a hint of drama.

A less enjoyable aspect of the 911 Turbo is its $127,060 base price. And yet, the Porsche can occasionally seem worth it. Alongside the GT-R, the 911 Turbo offers slightly higher refinement, a better ride, superior steering and brakes, and it suffers a little less from road noise. There were some gripes in the logbook about the Turbo’s notchy shifter, abrupt clutch takeup, and, of course, the sock-it-to-me price.

Even if we remove the price issue from the charts, the GT-R still ends up ahead of the Porsche, primarily because it offers a real trunk and a marginally larger rear seat. And yet, we’d say that if you have an extra $70K lying around, want a true sports-car experience, and can live with a slightly less practical package, the 911 Turbo might be your winner. Or you could almost buy a base 911 and a GT-R. Are you getting the picture? This car is seriously expensive.

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